


Robot Zombie

by SimmeringSun



Series: Siblings of Light [8]
Category: Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Memory Alteration, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 10:26:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16195655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimmeringSun/pseuds/SimmeringSun
Summary: On Monday, Rock played with Rush outside of his home. On Friday, Quint sees a robot zombie.(Technically a sequel to "Cruel Irony" but can be read as a standalone)





	Robot Zombie

“When is Blues coming?”, Roll whines for the twentieth time that day. It was Monday, and Rock was outside playing with Rush. They were on the wide patch of grass in the back of Light Labs, enjoying the nice weather. Roll was sitting on the back steps, a book open on top of her lap. She occasionally looks up from the pages to look at the path that connects the lab to the main part of the city, her blue eyes squinting.

Rock acknowledged his sister’s words, but keeps his eyes trained on Rush who was chasing a frisbee he had just thrown. He tries to focus on the dog’s excited baking rather than the intrusive thoughts that filled his head.

Rock was always worried about his big brother, but it had increased tenfold these last couple of days. It’s been two weeks since Blues’ last visit. Sure, Blues visited once a week, and he had skipped out this time, but Rock knew that things happened. Rock knew that his brother had things to do sometimes.

“The robot in red who helps all he sees.” That's what the humans call his brother. Rock feels proud of his brother for helping others like that. He helps all of those people without getting anything back. Sometimes Rock thinks that maybe his brother will finally start helping himself if Rock put a mirror in front of him. Maybe then he would finally get his core fixed.

“He's just probably busy.”, Rock said back to his sister with a strained smile. “I'm sure he'll be here tonight.”

“I hope so. I want him to try out the paints that Dr. Light got us. I bet he'd really like those.”, Roll says. She sighs as she looks back at the book in her lap. It was a medical book that Blues had gotten Roll for her birthday a long time ago. It was rare these days for Roll to get a break to do much of anything. Dr. Light always had something he wanted his daughter to clean or cook.

“Roll!” Rock hears Dr. Light call out. Roll quickly shoves a bookmark between the pages she's on and runs into the building. Rock sighs as he watches his little sister leave. He sits on the steps where she sat, and Rush follows along to bring the frisbee back.

“I don't really feel like playing anymore boy.”, Rock says as he pets Rush and takes the frisbee. He looks at the path and squints his eyes. He sees no red.

Rock guesses he should feel happy. There was peace back again, and Rock no longer had to fight. He was stripped of his guns and weapons that had adorned his body. When he looked in the mirror sometimes he’d feel like a normal kid. But with this era of peace came a whole new slew of issues.

Blues still refused to get his core fixed, previous Wily robots have gathered crowds to protest the holding and putting down of previous Wily robots who are put in the robot museum, Roll and Dr. Light got in arguments, etc., ect. It all made Rock frustrated. He wanted peace, but sometimes he feels like he doesn't know what to do. 

He'd take this over fighting. He'd die before he started fighting again.

Rock looks up when he hears a sharp noise come from a patch of trees.

It's distant, and sounds a little distorted, but the melody is right. Rock stands up from the steps.

“Stay here boy.”, Rock tells Rush as he starts running to where he heard the whistle.

“Blues?”, Rock asks as he looks around. He thinks it came from the trees. “Blues, where are you?”

He spins slowly in place, his boots moving aside the thin layer of dirt on the ground. He looks out for flashes of red and yellow but sees nothing but trees and spots of sunlight.

He has his brother's name on his lips as he feels something sharp prick his neck. He feels his eyes freeze, and the last thing he sees is the rapid approaching ground as the world fades to black.

Images appear behind his closed eyes. He sees his siblings smiling at him. He sees his father. They're crystal clear. He tries to reach out his hands and touch them, but he can’t.

With a gasp, he opens his eyes and tries to move his arms. He lets out a yelp when he notices that they can't move. He's strapped down to a table; his ankles and wrists bolted to the slab of metal. 

His core whirs, and he feels panic claw in him.

“W-What's going on?”, He calls out. He looks around the best he can. He cranes his neck and pulls at his limbs to no avail. It's dimly lit and cluttered, but Rock can tell that he was in a lab.

“Dr. Light?”, He calls out. Dr. Light wouldn't do anything like this right? He thinks about the vague words that Blues had told him long ago and his eyes widen. No, this was surely different. Rock knew that his father actually loved him.

“Hello!” He calls out again. All that answers is his echo.

He’s shivering slightly, trying to remember the events that lead up to this. He recalls playing with Rush before he heard a whistle.

“Blues?”, He calls out. 

The sound of metal scratching on solid ground floods the room. It was like the sound of a heavy door openingm. It sounds a thousand times louder in Rock’s mind.

Sure he's been in scary situations before, but he always had a weapon. He always knew who he was fighting. Now Rock doesn't have or know anything.

Rock cranes his neck and gasps when he sees two familiar faces.

“Dr. Wily!”, Rock says with a frown. He should have known.

“Mega Man.”, One of the Dr. Wilys say. There's two of him. One of them balding, and the other how he looked about ten years ago.

The younger one ghosts his hands over Rock's hair with a crooked smile on his face. “Or should I say Rock?”

“It doesn't matter.”, The other Wily says.

“You'll be neither when we're done.”

They’re both smiling from ear to ear. Rock is so struck with fear that he believes he must be in a dream. The two Dr. Wily’s hold sharp tools in their hands. Rock lets out a garbled scream when one of those tools makes its way into his chest.

Robots feel pain differently from humans. Scratches and “bruises” are ok. They don’t hurt much, and all you can feel are a slight tingle. It’s the messing with the internal wires that really hurts. Cutting these feels like sharp needles. 

So when the two doctors start hacking away, Rock is painfully aware that he is in no dream.

Screams leave his mouth. He’s barely aware of the pleas that leave his mouth as they cut wires open. He feels the knife scraping the insides of his chest. He kicks and screams, but nothing makes the two stop.

“I want to go back to my dad!”, Rock shouts out. He might have known how childish that statement was if he could manage to think through the pain. But he is a child. Mega Man had guns, and could get out of this quickly with his weapons. But he was Rock, a child of Dr. Light now. He had no weapons or armor. He was scared.

Tears streamed down his face as the scalpel moved to the the side of his head. He feels the tip of the blade make it past his layer of latex skin. He cries when the knife starts hacking at his scalp, ripping the layer of skin on top of his head off, along with his hair.  
They’re laughing at him. They laugh and say cruel things that he can barely make out. He remembers the one time he had almost killed Dr. Wily. He had enough, and he pointed his gun at him. Rock wonders if this could have been avoided if he ha just let the blaster make a hole in the doctor’s head.

“Blues..”, Rock cries out as he feels fingertips graze the mess of wires in his head. He feels the hands digging in the wires and he lets out a broken sob. His shambling mind dug through memories of his older brother always coming to the rescue. The way he always had Rock's back without expecting nothing back. “Blues please help me!”

They’re starting to take new wires and chips out of ziplock bags. They smile and say things about how he will be better now.

“Blues..”, Rock mumbles as one of the doctors puts something inside his head. He suddenly feels tired. Everything fuzzes together and his eyes droop.  
_________________________

 

He blinked his eyes, and looked up at an unfamiliar ceiling in a barely familiar world.

“Quint.”, He says his name out loud. It rolls off of his tongue in an instant. It was one of the only things he knew. He hears the sound of his own voice and he despises it.

“Mega Man..”, He says his purpose. His fists clench at the name. He wants to punch Mega Man. He wants to tear him into bits. Yet, he wasn’t quite sure why.

 

There were voices on the other side of the steel door. Quint tries to hop off the table to go identify who they’re coming from, but his legs are barred to the table. Quint looks at the restraints, puzzled. 

“You don’t go past this door!”, He barely hears one of the voices yell.

He hears muffled yelling in response, but he can’t quite make it out. When the door opens, Quint frowns. An old man walks in, some items in his arms. A black and yellow robot a little taller than Quint makes eyes contact with him before the door is shut. The immediate widening of the other’s eyes show a sign of recognition, but Quint has never seen that robot in his life.

“Hello, Quint.”, The old man says in greeting. Quint feels oddly calmed by his words. The man grabs his chin gently and their eyes meet. The man tsks under his breath as he looks into Quint’s eyes.

“We need to get your eyes covered up.”, The man says. “Does the light hurt?”

“Yes.”, Quint says. Looking at any light source makes his eyes feel like they’re being frayed. He looks down at the reflective surface of the table, and catches a glimpse of himself. He sees the green of his clothing reflect off the surface. It doesn't match his eyes. One of his eyes is a perfect white, with blue irises. His other eye is a bundle of wires with a thin translucent layer on top. He’s about to look at himself more; put his hands through his hair and feel the uneven ridges in his skin, but the doctor talks once more.

“Yes, yes, yes.”, He mumbles under his breath. “You will do well. My goal will finally be achieved through you. How ironic.”

“Your goal?”, Quint asks.

“I am your creator, Dr. Wily.”, Dr. Wily says. “You are Quint, and you will defeat Mega Man.”

“Mega Man.”, Quint says with malice. There’s that name again. He hates the sound of it. He just wants it out of his head already, but it stays there like a tumor. The doctor smiles at Quint's anger at the name.

“Yes yes, we'll get you a fight with him. For now I need to get you some weapons”, Dr. Wily says as he wags his finger.

The doctor is moving around the room, his hands moving with purpose. Quint thinks about asking what he's doing and where he is, but he finds that he doesn't really care.

He puts a hand over his eyes to block out the light coming from the window from above. 

The man gathers his things, and without a word, he leaves the room and locks the door behind him. Quint leans back against the table and closes his eyes.

He sees two figures in red. One looks to be wearing a green hair piece while the other wears sunglasses. Quint doesn't know who they are. They call out a name he doesn't know, so with frightened steps he turns around and runs far away.

When Quint opens his eyes again, the sun is still greeting him. 

“You've been charging since yesterday..”, Dr. Wily says. He has an object in his hand that he slides onto Quint's face. The bright light that has flooded Quint's vision dulls in an instant. Quint blinks and sighs in relief. The tinted shades on his face allow him to finally see around the room.

“Those will have to do until I get a helmet fixed on you. No use in wasting supplies fixing it.”

Quint is too entranced by his new scope of vision to take insight on the old man's words. He tries to get up but is reminded of his limited mobility.

“Why am I strapped down?”, Quint asks as he points to his legs.

“There's no need for you to wander.”, Dr. Wily says with a roll of his eyes. He's fiddling with something red. “Besides, not all the robots here are nice.”

“Oh.”, Quint says. He thinks about the answer and frowns a bit. He looks at a book of paper that hangs on the wall. All the squares on the page are marked off up a square under the Wednesday bar. 

Quint felt like he should be somewhere else, but when he thought hard about it he couldn't think of anywhere he had to be. So he laid back down.

He'd fall in and out of sleep as he heard the dull sounds of the doctor working around the room. He'd occasionally risk asking a question, but the doctor would grunt or respond with a cryptic answer that made no sense.

Quint just focused on the weird feeling of his insides, and the fuzzy dream that he could barely recall. Something about all of this wasn't right, but Quint couldn't put his finger on it.

When the light through the window dimmed until the room was dark, the doctor put a helmet on Quint's head. The helmet felt a little heavy on his head, but it felt right. Quint kept his shades on underneath the visor of the helmet. His mind processes this as right.

The next day when he woke up, the doctor wasn't there. Quint strained his body to look at the mess of wires and tools that littered the table on the other side of the room. The sun was barely rising outside. Quint could barely see the tones of colors that littered the sky, but the glimpses he saw made him feel serene. 

Quint is snapped out of his relaxed state when hears the sound of a key sliding into the door. He hears the sound of words being said in a biting tone as the handle is roughly shaken. After a few minutes of this odd behavior, the knob of the door is blown off.

Quint stiffens as the remaining pieces of the handle drop to the floor. The door draws open, and a robot stands in its wake.

It's the same robot he had caught a glance of a couple of days ago. He has an odd helmet on, and a pair of red narrowed eyes to match its intensity. 

He doesn't say a word, but the loud clunk of his footsteps as he approaches make the air heavy. Quint doesn't look away though. The two stare at each other, one with his eyes hidden.

“Listen..”, The robot says. He's close to Quint now. He looks angry. “Take off your helmet.”

“Why?”, Quint asks. The robot's eyes widen at the sound of his voice, but his quickly narrow. 

“I won't ask again. Just take it off.”, The other snarls. Quint hesitates. He thinks about just refusing, but this robot is seething. There's no telling what he'll do if Quint doesn't comply. Quint's eyes catch the weapon attatched to the robot's arm. The green bot hesitates before he slowly takes his helmet off. 

The other robot scrutanizes Quint. He looks at his mussed up locks, and then looks at Quint's shades. He gives no demand this time. He snatches the shades from Quint's face. He looks distraught, like he has found something to be true.

“God damn it.”, The armored robot says. He grabs the sides of Quint's head with both hands, and looks intensely in his eyes. 

“What-”, Quint voices but is interrupted when the other roughly tugs his head side to side, looking at each eye.

“What the fuck is your name?”, The robot asks.

“Quint.”, The exposed robot says. He doesn't know why this robot is so angry at him.

“What do you remember. Anything.”, The angry bot asks. Quint could feel his hands tremble against the surface of his skin.

“I just remember waking up here..it was about four days ago I think.”, Quint says with a shrug.

“He broke you.”, He says. “He fucking broke you.”

“What do you mean?”, Quint asks. He felt scared.

“You're not Quint. And you didn't wake up four days ago. You woke up years ago. I was supposed to fucking defeat you! I was supposed to be the one!”. He's yelling now, his hands clenching. Quint feels like his skin might rip underneath the strong grip. Quint tries to wrench his face out of the other's grip.

“Who are you?”, Quint asks. “I don't know ehat you mean!”

“I'm Bass you idiot.”, The robot, Bass, says. “I was your greatest rival. I haven't seen you or your brother in months. What the fuck did he do to you? What the fuck.”

The other robot seems to be in a panic. He lets go of the other's face. He lets out a garbled yell as he grips onto the metal bars that hold Quint onto the table. With a great pull, the screws pop off, and the metal is thrown across the room.

“My brother? Rival?”, Quint asks. He doesn't remember any of this. He quickly swings his legs to the side of the table and stands up with shaky legs. “What are you talking about?”

“Your name is Mega Man.”, Bass says as he pokes Quint's chest. Quint feels his mind grow angry at the name.

“What? That can't be. I can't be Mega Man..”, Quint says. He was programmed to kill Mega Man. Why would he be programmed to kill himself. This robot must be insane.

“You are!”, The other says. “And you need to leave. You need to go find Dr. Light. I hate that guy, but he can probably fix this.”

There's a sound from outside of the room. Bass freezes for a moment before he quickly picks up Quint and carries him towards the window.

“What!” Quint says in alarm. “I'm not..I can't..”

“Go find Dr. Light. Find him, and I'll keep looking for your idiot brother.”, Bass says. Quint struggles in the other's hold. He grips onto the sides of the window as Bass tries to push him out. With a forceful kick, Quint is suddenly falling.

Quint lets out a yell. His systems flounder as he connects to the cement ground. Quint takes a moment before he stands up and runs.

He doesn't know why he's running, but once he starts, he can't stop. He thinks about what Bass had told him, but nothing makes sense. 

He processed all of his memories through his mind. Dr. Wily had made him, and his name was Quint. He woke up with that information. It was all he knew. Why would anyone make a robot just to kill itself? It didn't make sense. It couldn't be real.

Quint ran through trees and bursts of green. The light hurt without his shades or helmet. He found himself hating Bass for taking them off, and throwing him out into the sun. He felt exposed and broken.

The shade of the trees offered little respite from the sun’s rays. Trees surrounded him, and the fear that he would be lost in the forest arose. He looked around when he was offered shade. He saw a cement structure standing out against the green and browns that surrounded it. Quint squinted his eyes and saw that it was an abandoned bridge.. It looked dark underneath, so with little hesitation, Quint went to the mouth of the tunnel.

A sense of relief washed over Quint as the shadows engulfed him. He couldn’t think clearly before with all the running and the bright light. Now he could sit down and figure out what he was going to do.

Quint leans his back against the wall and looks down the tunnel. He feels his body still when he sees movement further in. There’s strips of light coming through the cracks on top. They shine down on the moving figure. 

“Hello?”, He asks despite his fear.

The figure stills.

“Rock?”, It says. Quint is confused. Did this person want a rock? Quint slowly steps towards him. His mouth goes slack at the sight he sees.

“Rock...oh god Rock. Please help me, please.”, The figure groans. He’s lying on the ground, his limbs scattered around him. His chest is black with soot. Quint clutches his own chest absentmindedly. That was where his core was.

This robot, his skin is mangled. It’s in all the wrong places and is jagged. His eyes are green with no pupils or whites, and they look up at Quint.

“Rock.”, This robot pleads again.

There’s no way he can be alive. His core must have malfunctioned judging by the soot and ashes that scar this robot’s chest. No one could survive that, and yet the robot still calls out for a name Quint does not know.

“Please.”, The robot says. He’s crying now. He looks small, and frightening at the same time. “Please Rock, I'm sorry.”

Quint steps back from the robot. He must be a zombie. A robot zombie; coming back from the dead. He can’t move judging by his limbless form, but Quint does not want to risk it. He runs out of the bridge. He looks behind him to make sure that the zombie does not follow him as he returns to the lab he had first woke up in.

**Author's Note:**

> I was feeling really angsty when I wrote this. Time to go write some fluff now


End file.
